124 lISST.=R
and cracked. Gold in insignificant quantities is obtained by washing
in the Indravati and other streams in the west. The State contains
12I miles of gravelled and I9I miles of embanked roads; the principal
routes are those leading from Jagdalpur to Dhamtari, to Jeypore, and
to Chanda. The bulk of the trade goes to Dhamtari station.
The State is in charge of a Political Agent for the Feudatory States,
under the supervision of the Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Division.
For administrative purposes Bastar is divided into five tahsils, each in
charge of a lahsild(r. The Superintendent of the State is at present an
Extra-Assistant Commissioner and has two Assistants with magisterial
powers. The State also employs European Forest and Medical officers.
There are seven subordinate samindari estates covering 4,189 square
miles, situated mainly to the south of the Indravati. The total revenue
in I904 was 2.76 lakhs, the main items being land (Rs. I,I5,000), in-
cluding cesses, arrears, and miscellaneous receipts, forests (Rs. 65,ooo),
and excise (Rs. 70,000). A revised assessment of land revenue has
recently been sanctioned. The net demand for land revenue in I904
was only Rs. 83,000, a considerable proportion being 'assigned.' A
cadastral survey has been effected in 647 villages of the Jagdalpur
tahsil, and in most of these a regular settlement based on soil classifica-
tion has been carried out. The remaining area is summarily settled,
the rates being fixed on the seed required for each holding, or on the
number of ploughs in the possession of the cultivators. The incidence
of the land revenue per cultivated acre in the regularly settled tract
is 5 annas i pie. The total expenditure in 1904 was 2.52 lakhs, the
principal heads being Government tribute (Rs. 15,600), allowances to
the ruling family (Rs. 24,000), administration (Rs. 32,000), forests
(Rs. 15,000), excise (Rs. I5,000), land revenue settlement (Rs. 7,700),
and public works (Rs. 37,000). The tribute is liable to revision. Since
1893 the State has expended 5.68 lakhs on public works, under the
supervision of the Engineer of the Chhattisgarh States division. The
works carried out include, besides the roads already mentioned,
residences for the chief and the Administrator and for the zaminddr
of Bhopalpatnam, office buildings at Jagdalpur and the head-quarters
of tahsils, and a school, dispensary, and sarai at Jagdalpur. The
State maintains 5r schools, including an English middle school at
Jagdalpur, 4 vernacular middle schools, and a girls' school, with a total
of about 3,000 pupils. The expenditure on education in I904 was
Rs. II,ooo. Only 1,997 persons were returned as able to read and
write in I90o, the proportion of literate males being 1.2 per cent.
Dispensaries have been established at Jagdalpur, Antagarh, Kondegaon,
Bhopalpatnam, Konda, and Bijapur, at which 59,000 persons were
treated in 1904, and Rs. 12,000 was expended on medical relief.
Basti District.-North-western District of the Gorakhpur Division,